Suggestions for upgrade?

[dboucher]

hi all,
just started playing san andreas on the pc, but it doesnt run all that great... i have celeron 2.8, 2x 512mb ddr (one at 333 and one at 400), and a geforce 5200. What would you guys and gals suggest to upgrade all or some of that to make gaming significantly better? Not necessarily most expensive option though...am but a humble nurse, so cant afford to go nuts buying gear :)
cheers,
dave.

[peat moss]

Upgrade the video card , or save your money and buy one of the new game consoles coming out.

[dboucher]

:) yeh one of my mates said that the other day actually... do get a bit sick of the neverending upgrades which you wouldnt have with a console... nevertheless we still do it..i do like my pc though...

[Snee]

I'm assuming it's an agp board, so...

You can go with something like a Geforce 6200, those are el cheapo, and should keep you going a little bit longer, or you can put a bit more money into something better, like at least a 6600gt (that's enough to run gta:sa well (not perfectly though), whereas a 6200 will work, but it won't let you have your settings very high.)

Then there are 6800LEs, non-gt 6600s and even some fairly cheap (considering the big picture) 6800gts, it all depends a bit on what your psu can handle as well.

And there are of course a bunch of radeon cards that'll work better than the card you have, 9600xts, 9600pros, 9800pros, x700s, and so forth. It all depends on what you are willing to pay, but there is a lot to choose from, even for a humble nurse :P

There are a few of them available second-hand, like, but if you choose that path, be wary of people trying to rip you off.



Furthermore, if you are using pagefiles, you can try turning that off in xp, or you can get another hd and move the pagefiles to that. That should improve load-times some.

Also, you do know that both sticks of ram are running at 333Mhz, right? The slower one sets the speed. (As an aside, like.)

[dboucher]

ok, so which path would you choose between 6600gt and the radeon equivalent in price?
ram: yeh thats pretty much what i thought...i may end up just getting a new setup, and selling my current one to recoup costs...
thanks.

[S!X]

6600GT or 9800PRO, choose your destiny.

[Snee]

ok, so which path would you choose between 6600gt and the radeon equivalent in price?
ram: yeh thats pretty much what i thought...i may end up just getting a new setup, and selling my current one to recoup costs...
thanks.
The equivalent to a decent 6600GT in price is what, an x700pro? :unsure: or maybe a plain x800, if you've been looking at gainward's GLH or 256MB models of the 6600GT. (The step pricewise to a 6800LE, 6800 or 6800GT isn't big at all, btw)

The safest card would be the x800, I've never read any complaints about that. I don't know how the x700pro performs, but I think it should be doing well. [EDit: Checked around and it seems their 3d mark results are very similar to the 6600GTs]

The 6600GT is a good chip though, I've had the opportunity of testing two gainward 6600GTs with 256MB ram on two different systems, and I must say that I like the performance (except for a minor snafu with the fan on one of them, not that the fan was necessary to use the card, as it took me forever to discover it wasn't spinning any more).

However, a lot of people bitch about the 6600GTs, online. I haven't had a problem, but a lot of others have had issues with (mostly) early revisions of the cards.

Depending on what kind of PSU you have, power might become an issue for you, and I think the x700pros need less than the 6600GTs to run, which may be worth taking into account.

[EDit: So the x700pro is a very strong contender, as it's also a bit cheaper on average, the only real setback I can see is the fact that it doesn't have pixelshader 3, which may become more important in the future, like the 6600gt, but that seems far off, today. Sapphire has a 256MB version of the x700pro that looks good, btw]


And for the record: the 6600GTs own the 9800pros, and even the xts in pretty much every test I've seen, the 9800s aren't contenders to the 6600GTs. IMO.

[abu_has_the_power]

all ur ram and ur video card. then, get urself a nicer card, and some better ram. u can buy 2 sticks of 256mb PC3200 ram for $40 at Fry's. pretty cheap

[Snee]

I hope you aren't saying he should replace the 512 stick of 3200 ram he already has with a 256MB stick :huh:

It wouldn't hurt to replace the 2700 stick, but the gfx card is more important (for performance), and maybe the psu (for stability), if it's a bad one.

[abu_has_the_power]

I hope you aren't saying he should replace the 512 stick of 3200 ram he already has with a 256MB stick :huh:

It wouldn't hurt to replace the 2700 stick, but the gfx card is more important (for performance), and maybe the psu (for stability), if it's a bad one.
i said 2 sticks. :blink: :huh: :huh:

[dboucher]

wow!! thnx people...much more of a response than i anticipated...now to digest the info and then go shopping!!
am sorta leaning towards an amd 64 3000+... opinions?

[Snee]

Thought you said your budget was tight atm?

That one requires a whole 'nother mobo, and prolly a better psu as well.


It's a good chip, though :)

[dboucher]

:) recently found out us nurses here in aust are getting back pay to january with a pay rise!! yay for me! prob still only get the graphics card for the moment though till the extra comes through...
EDIT- goin to see the mortgage broker this arvo to arrange a home loan, so trying to get my comp setup before buying a house in next couple months and then be broke from thereon...

[maebach]

i too need to upgrade, alot of people do

[S!X]

i too need to upgrade, alot of people do

Yes, but when you get ripped off almost 30 grand its hard to build a computer. :dry:

[clocker]

i too need to upgrade, alot of people do

Yes, but when you get ripped off almost 30 grand its hard to build a computer. :dry:
Huh?

[dboucher]

i second that "huh?" ....gotta be a story behind that..